I live in Houston TX (Katy). Busses around here seem to go for higher prices then i see in other part of the country - I am guessing because they are moving them into Mexico. I found two Thomas hi tops in Wash state, flat front RE Allison mt 643/cat 3116 130K and 139K - the bids are ~$1300. Who bids on these things? Are folks buying to scrap - pull the engines sell that and then scrap?

Real question is does anyone know what the scrap value of a 40 footer would be, how in the world do I know where to position a bid?

I hate to buy anything without looking, and even have a mechnic give it a check but that thing is a loonggg way from Houston.

Has anyone had to rebuild an engine? what are such cost(ballpark).

Thank - i love this site

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The sun is the same, in a relative way, but you're older; shorter of breath, and one day closer to death.
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon

I live in Houston TX (Katy). Busses around here seem to go for higher prices then i see in other part of the country - I am guessing because they are moving them into Mexico. I found two Thomas hi tops in Wash state, flat front RE Allison mt 643/cat 3116 130K and 139K - the bids are ~$1300. Who bids on these things? Are folks buying to scrap - pull the engines sell that and then scrap?

Real question is does anyone know what the scrap value of a 40 footer would be, how in the world do I know where to position a bid?

I hate to buy anything without looking, and even have a mechnic give it a check but that thing is a loonggg way from Houston.

Has anyone had to rebuild an engine? what are such cost(ballpark).

Thank - i love this site

I'm in Katy too. Check out Lemons Auctioneers. They have great busses up for auction at reasonable prices. Check out my thread "Big Mac for $500", yep, that's right! I drove her home from San Antonio with EVERYTHING in top working order. I've been around diesels for almost 20 years. Busses are a bit new for me, but I'm learning fast. PM me if you want more info....

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We few, we Band of Brothers. For he who sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.
- William Shakespeare ("King Henry V")

Alot of them do go south to mexico and all of central/s america.
I would be leary of buying any 31 series cat sight unseen, actually I wouldnt buy one to keep at all.
I just picked one up sight unseen a few weeks back that looked perfect and under 200k on it, it had a ton of blowby that was not mentioned in the ad. Didnt even need to get warmed up and it was puking out the slobber tube. They are notorious for this and it is not the first one I have seen doing it. There is the same bus on ebay right now with the 8.3 cummins which is by far better, it didnt have the high roof I dont think. For this bus I would expect to pay around 3500-5000 in any major market that is having them on an online auction.

As for a replacement engine, 31 series are 13k for a reman longblock compared to a cummins 5.9 from 4000-9000 depending on where you find it.
It is doubtful that you will wear an engine out just tooling around the country with it unless you have a catastrophic failure or do something stupid.

Thanks for that info. I am not above doing something stupid! Those two busses are now up to $2500 with 25 hours left to bid.

What is the cause of blow by, valves? I am not conversant in diesel. What is the fix? These two have 130K and 139 K miles...

I alway thought cats were... well the cat's meow....

asked and answered
What is Engine BLOW-BY and How does it Effect Diesel Engine Operation?

The term BLOW-BY denotes the escape of compression and combustion gases past the pistons and piston rings into the crankcase. All engines have some blow-by. Excessive blow-by is usually found by higher oil consumption. If you are using a quart of oil in 1000 miles than you have a problem. Blow by is a time factor problem. Cranking speeds leave more 'time' for compression to pass the pistons and rings, resulting in harder starts on a cold engine. This is why many people use either to start even in warm weather. Once piston speeds pick up there is 'less' time for the compression to pass the pistons and rings and engine runs. This is why we get " it's hard to start but then it runs good" . There is no way to repair blow-by other than redoing cylinders and pistons. In other words remanufacture the engine.
Sudden excessive blow is usually caused by piston detonation. In other words a hole has been burned in piston top or side. See Detonation

Is it Valve Guides or Seals?

NO. The fact that most diesels do not have any intake manifold vacuum makes it unlikely that oil is passing the valve guides as you need engine vacuum to pull it thru.

__________________
The sun is the same, in a relative way, but you're older; shorter of breath, and one day closer to death.
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon